L. v. Finland

A father (plaintiff) had two children (the children). Employees of the government of Finland (government) (defendant) suspected that one of the children was being sexually abused and that the other was at risk of sexual abuse. The government placed the children in public care in January 1992. After an investigation, the government concluded that although the sex-abuse allegations were unsubstantiated, the father had neglected the children and the neglect was likely to continue if the children returned to the father’s care. Finnish law required the government to prepare a care plan for the children with the participation of the father. The government prepared a care plan in the father’s presence, and the care plan acknowledged the father’s wishes for the care of the children. The father refused to sign the care plan. The government placed the children in foster care and limited the father’s parenting time to four supervised visits per year in the children’s foster home. The father challenged the government in Finnish court and lost. The European Convention on Human Rights (the convention), also known as the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, contained a provision, Article 8, that (1) recognized that everyone had the right to respect for his or her family life and (2) prohibited public authorities from interfering with that right unless the interference was in accordance with the law and necessary in a democratic society. In 1994, the father and paternal grandfather (plaintiff) filed an application in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), arguing, among other things, that the care plan violated Article 8 of the convention. The father alleged that the care plan was not in accordance with Finnish law because, among other things, the government drafted the care plan outside his presence. The ECtHR heard the matter in 1999.